Hadley said he is looking primarily at retired military leaders and active-duty military personnel, but is open to civilian candidates to become assistant to the president for Iraq and Afghanistan policy implementation.

He said he’s talked to a handful of people about their “interest and availability,” including some he knew would not be available for the position.

A) Wouldn’t this be a GREAT opportunity for one of those ‘retired generals’ that were so up in arms (figuratively) about the management of the war to do something besides write op-eds?

B) Murdoc is available as of the 15th.

C) The title of this post is definitely one of the worst ever at MO.

Seriously, I’m not quite sure if I really see the value in this. Without knowing a bit more about exactly what this War Czar would do it’s tough to say, but aren’t there already people doing all this? I guess the intent is to have one line directly to the president on the war, the whole war, and nothing but the war. Maybe a positive move, but maybe just another cook in the kitchen.

Comments

I think SecDef has the right of this… http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3928 Q And my last question is, this idea that we learned about this morning, I guess, about having a war czar, someone to coordinate the effort in Afghanistan and Iraq, that would presumably be even over your level, how do you feel about that? SEC. GATES: Well, first of all, I frankly am kind of amused by the level of excitement over this. Both Republicans and Democrats for some time have been urging that there be somebody in the White House who could act as a coordinator for the civilian side of the government along with the Defense Department. And the idea is to have someone in the White House who would work as part of the National Security Council, so they’re not detached from it, but also have a direct reporting line to the president, who could — when Admiral Fallon or Dave Petraeus or Ryan Crocker have requested something from the government and not gotten it, or it’s moving too slowly through the bureaucracy, that there is somebody empowered by the president to call a Cabinet secretary and say, ‘The president would like to know why you haven’t delivered what’s been asked for yet.’ So this person is not ‘running the war.’ This person is not going to have somebody embedded in the departments. This person is — this czar term is, I think, kind of silly. The person is better described as a coordinator and a facilitator, somebody — this is what Steve Hadley would do if Steve Hadley had the time, but he doesn’t have the time to do it full-time. And so it’s a person to make sure that the — you know, one of the arguments that we hear frequently — and frankly are very sympathetic with — is that we and the State Department are about the only parts of the government that are at war. This kind of position is intended to ensure that where other parts of the government can play a contributing role, that in fact they understand what the president’s priorities are and make sure that the commanders in the field, the ambassador in the field gets what he needs.

I’m pretty sure I know why my phone hasn’t been ringing. There would be such carnage in Iraq they’d think Saddam was a walk in the park. We’d fight like we meant it, like more than a few of us had something other than an empty sack and empty head. We’d fight like it was 1941 again and we were pissed as hell, because that’s exactly what I am.

Czar. Give a PR guy a history text book and you won’t end up with a PR guy who knows history… you’ll end up with said PR guy pulling a word out of that text book and attaching it to something totally unrelated… and if he’s really lucky… everyone will run with it. But hey the word ‘czar’ got a new lease on life. I bet the hardliners in Moscow just hate that fact. Well actually I have no idea but it sure seems like it’d be a word they wouldn’t like. Can’t wait for the day when my ManagerCzar calls me into his office to inform me that the PresidentCzar, CEOCzar and head of HRCzar don’t appreciate me referring to myself as a Customer ServiceCzar (CSCzar) and are therefore letting me go so its off to the UnemploymentCzar I go… man I’ll be wanting to kill Peter The Great and become a CommieCzar myself. And then don’t turn around.. cause the CommieCzar’s in town. I’m going to trademark CommieCzar. I see some pun value there.

Czar Nicholas’ has a nice ring to it. Murdoc – Off-Topic – I think you should add julescrittenden.com to your links bar. It’s not often I come across a site which I think so thoroughly deserves to be there. His recently series recalling the invasion was fascinating and right up your alley, I think. Anyway, it’s up to you, I just thought I’d point it out.

Having a facilitator or whatever is not a bad idea in and of itself, but the history of other problems that have been assigned ‘Czars’ is not encouraging. Maybe if it was a war ‘Khan’ people might get motivated.